And Did We Wake in Ancient Time Beneath the Tree

Wild animals were his companions, and angels
      took care of him.  (Mark l:12 – 13, The Message)

The purpose of Lent has always been to startle us
     awake to the true state of our hearts and the world,
     which wakes an aching that something new might
     be made of the ruin.  (Gayle Boss, Wild Hope)   

When I reflect on Lent an image appears in my heart
and I remember our dear Brother who went into 
the Galilean hills where he spent forty days
with wild beasts and angels and a wildflower
beside his sandal in kinship with the petals unfolding in his heart breaking open in lament and wonder of the gift of creation embodied. 

And did he awaken and rest in that wilderness place?
Each day coming and going, each one closing in repose
beneath Sister Moon’s orb glowing in changing hues
of light visible and fading 
invisible behind clouds and dark shadow 
as he trusted moment by moment being chosen 
and choosing to live the test of courage – body and soul
essential to keeping the covenant alive day after day.
And did he from time to time remember as in dreaming
the child he once was in love with the wind 
coming from where nobody knows and passing 
through all things translucent sisters and brothers in the
stream of breath honoring the wild olive tree where he
rested in the shelter of her limbs leaves and roots
each breath-filled form honoring the other.

Sleight-of-hand, art forms are written in ink flowing  
in a reverie of holding the gladness of embodiment
in communion with the sorrow of transience – all things
changing, vanishing in time’s passing 	the question
remaining: shall all that appears and disappears vanish
as if it never were alive in the heart of the matter of love that does not come and go but prevails poured out 
la voi sacree, no-matter-what- 
wild hope	winged		leaven hidden within		
the beauty of the body of creation rising.

Shared by Vera and Margie Dimoplon

The poem text refers to William Blake’s poem “And did those feet in ancient time” engraved and printed in 1808 and known today as the hymn “Jerusalem” –  music composed by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916.